Most of us love the familiar. Its that soothing feeling of security and calm. When you feel comfort without a sense of impending risk, you are in your comfort zone. Your trading success depends on your ability to find that balance between organized chaos and confidence in what you do. Many thriving traders believe that you must step outside your comfort zone and feel a bit of anxiety to become truly successful.

By definition, a comfort zone represents that set of behaviors that a person will engage in without becoming anxious. Comfort zones are individual things; your personality, in fact, can be described by your comfort zone. Highly successful traders may routinely step outside their comfort zones, to take risks and accomplish what they wish. To step outside their comfort zone, seasoned traders often experiment with new and different behaviors or activities, and then experience the new and different responses that then occur within the trading environment.

Often, novice traders recognize the need to take risks, but fear doing so as it would result in losing the sense of security he or she derives from the job. As they move closer to the edges of that zone, they begin to feel uneasy and anxious. But those edges are where new traders grow. And by stretching those boundaries, they increase their ability to succeed.

Despite all the mentoring from experienced traders, each new trader must make their own way in the world, doing the best they can. And, quite often, mistakes are made when someone is outside of their comfort zone.

To stay in your comfort zone through mere habit will cause you to avoid all mistakes by sticking with the tried and true. Youll miss many exciting trading opportunities. That is when you will be stuck in a trading rut; by avoiding risk, you dig yourself a hole from which it is hard to emerge.

Here are just a few suggestions to step outside of your comfort zone:

1.Get your market news from different sources.
2.Use 15-minutes a day for positive affirmations.
3.Ask a seasoned trader you admire to be your mentor.
4.Take responsibility for something you didnt do.
5.Give a public talk on trading to a local investing group or college class.
6.Join a trading networking group.
7.Ask for help.
8.Start an internet blog on trading.
9.Read a book in a genre you dont usually read.
10.Delegate more of your work.